Body donors shape future surgeons

Paying their respects: UM final-year medical students during the wrap-up session of the 37th Silent Mentor Programme.

WHEN Universiti Malaya (UM) first launched its Silent Mentor Programme in 2012, there were only 177 pledgers.

As of August this year, however, 2,233 people had pledged their bodies to medical research, with 2,073 still living and 160 having passed away, according to Silent Mentor Programme director Prof Dr Saw Aik.

Prof Saw

The programme, in collaboration with Tzu Chi University in Taiwan, allows participants to perform surgical procedures and dissections on donors whose bodies are not preserved with chemicals or embalmed, ensuring the soft tissue remains as close to a living state as possible.

“Upon arrival at the Silent Mentor Centre at UM, the bodies are stored in a freezer and only thawed when the workshops begin,” Prof Saw explained.

The programme, which was conducted regularly until the Covid-19 pandemic, typically involves between four and six mentors per session, with each mentor guiding up to eight undergraduates.

“We had to stop all activities during Covid-19. Last year, it was tough to restart the programme. This year, interest has grown,” he added.

Having organised the second session of the year – also the programme’s 38th edition – with the next session to be held in December, Prof Saw expressed hope that the number of sessions will increase to four annually, as it was before the pandemic, with plans to hold more workshops in the future.

He shared that the Silent Mentor Programme unit at UM is introducing a new approach to clinical anatomy education for undergraduates.

“We are collaborating with the Malaysian Anatomical Association to explore this new model of medical teaching.

“One of our recent explorations includes da Vinci robotic training for surgical simulation,” he said, adding that a wound suturing workshop has also been launched for house officers at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.

Prof Saw aims to expand the programme to other medical institutions in Malaysia, enabling more centres to offer this training to medical students.

“We now have three organisations hosting the Silent Mentor Programme in Malaysia – UM, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, and the Academy For Silent Mentor.

“We hope that two other universities will adopt a similar programme, especially in regions not covered by existing units,” he said.

For more information on body donation for the Silent Mentor Programme, visit https://silentmentor.org/contact-us.